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American Motor Scooter Club
Annual 1958
Courtesy of Ronald E. Burbella
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"Evolution of the Scooter"
by Jean
Shepherd
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Now that we have arrived in the year of 1988,
we feel that it is time to review the development of the scooter
over the past 50 years. Since the scooter has been with us for
so many years now, many scooter drivers are unaware of the
forces that went into the creation and evolution of The Scooter,
a true friend of Man. The scooter has been with us in many forms
for ages, but we have chosen to trace the flowering of this
splendid vehicle from the year 1938.
 Fig.
1. An early foot powered machine usually constructed by hand
from available materials. It cornered badly, was quite slow, but
it made up for these deficiencies by being reliable and
inexpensive. Replacement parts were easily obtainable. Not many
of these vintage machines are seen today outside of a few
fortunate antique scooter museums. The one pictured is the
property of the Smithsonian Institute and was built by an
unknown designer around 1938. It is believed to be the machine
that placed second in the historic Akron to Columbus Scooter
Race of that year. These thrilling contests were discontinued
with the advent of World War II and unfortunately have never
been revived. They were a dangerous and colorful spectacle of
the period and were responsible for many technical advances in
the design of the scooter. We owe much to these brave and
intrepid adventurers who daily risked their lives propelling
with their own feet these flimsy deadly crates, as they were
sometimes called.
 Fig.
2. The close of World War II saw a great spurt in civilian
scootering. This was especially true in Italy where secretly
during the early days of the war, the motor driven scooter was
developed as a weapon. In fact, some historians say that several
scooter battalions were trained and used in battle in the North
African campaign. They proved to be somewhat ineffectual against
Allied Spitfires and P-38's as well as the Sherman Tank, but
this was largely due to inferior fuels used at the time. After
hostilities had come to a close, the civilian uses of the motor
driven scooter immediately became apparent. The model shown was
built in Italy around 1946 and is the property of the Rosenwald
Museum of Science in Chicago. Single cylinder, noisy,
unreliable, the machine proved an instant hit with the American
tourist of the day.
 Fig.
3. The obvious advantages of scootering drew thousands of
Americans to showrooms in the '50's. Ease of parking in the
crowded streets, low fuel consumption, a sense of freedom not
inherent in the automobile, and above all, simplicity, insured
the place of scootering among the mass of Americans. Note this
model built in Italy in the late '50's still has the early foot
starter as well as only two wheels. Crude and noisy, this
machine provided a breezy ride since this was before the advent
of the closed scooter. They must have been a hardy lot of
pioneers! The model shown has manual operated gear shift and a
single cylinder engine of tiny horsepower. It is the property of
the James Melton Museum of Antique Vehicles.
 Fig.
4. By 1967, the first closed scooters were being seen on the
highways and scootering had outgrown the haywire and tinker
stage! That year saw the first six cylinder, automatic shift
models which were the hit of the Annual Scooter Show. The model
pictured, has the early plastic cabin enclosure as well as two
wheels in the rear. This daring (for the time) innovation
enraged many of the so-called purists of the earlier days of
scootering but there is no stopping progress!! The machine in
Fig. 4 sat three, 6 cylinder ohv powerplant, 170 hp, weighed
1250 lbs and had a top speed of around 90 mph which was
considered high in those days. The actual machine shown is an
excellently preserved Ford Model 170 T. Affectionately known as
The "T" millions of these were seen on American highways.
Property of the Ford Museum in Detroit.
It is easy to see that the path of
scooter development has been rocky, but a rewarding one. As we
in 1988 zoom along in our big powerful machines we should
occasionally give silent thanks to those scooters who over the
years refused to settle for tiny, noisy two wheeled
contraptions, but who had vision and courage and who spearheaded
the march of PROGRESS. Even today there are rumors of scooters
capable of 250 mph, with atomic fuel powerplants, radar control,
and entirely self-operated!! We have no doubts that such rumors
will soon be reality and the 22 foot turbine models of today
will seem as ancient and outmoded as these early machines we
have seen in this brief history of scootering.
 Fig.
5. 1978, an historic year in scootering! This year saw the first
entirely closed four-wheel production models become a reality.
Long a dream of engineers, the scooter had at last come of age,
in every sense of the word. Improvements crowded the scene as
manufacturers vied for public favor. Wrap-around shatterproof
windshields, V-8 high compression powerplants, modern steering
wheels instead of the ancient but colorful handlebars!! The old
timers grumbled, but they were in the tiny minority as the
public wisely acclaimed each new advance. Fig. 5 shows the
Italia Model 300S built by General Motors in 1978. Thousands of
these are still seen on the nation's tube-ways. Three hundred
hp, V-8 ohv engine, autosync drive, weight: 3150 lbs. The
restored model shown is in a private collection.
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Cover |
Page 1
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Page 2
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Page 3 and 4 |
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